Google and Celebs Pair Up to Register Voters

AnnouncementOctober 1, 2008

There’s lots of buzz about turnout this year, but 1 in 4 Americans still aren’t registered to vote.

We’re trying to help increase participation by making sure voters have easy access to voting information. Google’s Voter Info Map (maps.google.com/vote) currently puts registration, absentee, and early voting information in one place. (If you’re on a phone, you can check out our mobile version at m.google.com/elections.)

We got together with a few others to spread the word. Leonardo DiCaprio, will.i.am, Tobey Maguire, Forest Whitaker, and a few of their friends just released the first in a series of public service announcements to encourage young Americans to register to vote. The video, with a link to our voter info map, can be viewed here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhDRVKDcXQo.

And stay tuned – we’re working closely with state and local election officials, the Voting Information Project (www.votinginfoproject.org) and the League of Women Voters (www.lwv.org/Election2008/index.html) to centralize official voting information. We’ll be following up in the next two weeks with more background on the project. In the meantime, please feel free to contact us with any feedback or questions you might have.